Containers for holding solutions are, of course, generally known. Indeed, jars containing medicines, solutions or other like fluids, for example, go back hundreds of years to the earliest uses of ceramic materials. Upon the introduction of glass, glass vials or ampoules were developed to be usefully suited to hold sterile solutions and/or medicines. Indeed, the first glass ampoule for storing sterile solutions was developed by a French pharmacist, Stanislaus Limousin, in 1890. This vial had a main body and a long tapered neck that was sealed after solutions were placed in the maid body. The neck could then be broken and the solution extracted.
Glass is still used to this day for vials and ampoules, as the material is useful for holding solutions. However, because glass has a tendency to shatter upon breaking, there is a risk of getting glass shards within the solution if not broken and opened properly. While new types of glass materials have been developed to minimize the shattering thereof, other materials have been found to also be useful for use in holding sterile solutions, namely, thermoplastics. Indeed, thermoplastics are useful because they can be shaped and manipulated relatively easily into vials, ampoules and other like containers. Further, thermoplastics tend not to shatter like glass, preventing the imposition of the solutions with glass shards that may be damaging to a user. However, unlike glass, thermoplastics can be relatively difficult to break, as the polymer chain entanglement of the thermoplastics provides a certain degree of toughness and resiliency to the walls of containers made therefrom.
Therefore, thermoplastic vials or ampoules have been known to have points of weakness built in to the structures themselves, allowing vials and ampoules to be opened at specific locations when desired. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 6,516,947 to Van Dyke et al., for example, discloses a plastic container having a main body portion and a long tapered neck portion, and a fracture recess on the body thereof that is an area of reduced thickness, allowing a user to squeeze or bend the vial at this region, causing the main body portion to break.
It is also generally known to provide containers having swab applicators therein. Swab applicators typically include a swab having an applicator head connected to a handle. The swab is contained within a closed container package which can be opened to expose the swab for use. The swab may be coated or soaked in a medical fluid, for example, which can then be applied to a patient, such as on a wound.
One example of a swab applicator can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,952,204 to Korteweg, which describes a swab contained within a sleeve which can be opened by use of manual force. The swab has a substance which can be applied by the swab. The swab has a straight hollow plastic stick with a bud of cotton attached on one end. The sleeve consists of a relatively small diameter cylindrical handle portion at one end, a substantially larger diameter receptacle portion at the opposite end, and a transition portion of compound configured therebetween. A tip of the handle portion of the sleeve engages a tip of the swab stick. The intersection between the receptacle and transition portions forms a sharp angle on an interior of the sleeve. The sleeve is opened by squeezing the sleeve at the intersection between the receptacle and transition portions and breaking the sleeve at the interior sharp angle.
Examples of other containers include applicators or dispensers having sharp interior angles to open the containers, and include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,927,012, 5,220,061, and 5,326,603. The aforementioned Van Dyke et al. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 6,516,947 discloses a swab applicator extending within a sleeve portion of the container, whereupon breakage of the main body at a fracture recess, the swab applicator, preferably having a solution thereon, may be extracted from the container. Thus, the sleeve maintains its position around the swab applicator handle, thereby minimizing contamination.
However, before now, it has been difficult to provide an applicator apparatus where two or more solutions may be maintained separately to ensure that they do not mix until necessary. For example, oftentimes two or more solutions may be reactive with each other, and it may be preferred to utilize the solutions immediately upon mixing to maximize their use. In another example, a mixture of two solutions may have a limited shelf-life, and thus component solutions may be desired to be kept separate to maximize their longevity. Moreover, merely the presence of the swab applicator in a single solution may be enough to cause degradation of the solution and/or the swab applicator. A need, therefore, exists for multi-chamber container apparatuses and methods of making and using the same. Specifically, a need exists for multi-chamber container apparatuses and methods of making and using the same that maintains separation of two or more solutions until desired. In addition, a need exists for multi-chamber container apparatuses and methods of making and using the same that maintains separation of a swab applicator and one or more solutions to prevent degradation of the one or more solutions and/or the swab applicator apparatus.
Systems for maintaining separation of solutions, however, are generally known. Indeed, it is known to provide ampoules having internal tubes or chambers that may be broken internally for solutions to mix prior to application thereof. However, many of these solutions utilize internal chambers made of glass, and generally do not solve the problems with potential glass shards and/or fine glass particulates ending up in the mixed solution. Further solutions utilizing internal thermoplastic chambers have not solved the problems associated with maintaining applicators in sterile environments until use before, during and/or after application of the solution thereon. A need, therefore, exists for multi-chamber container apparatuses having internal chambers that may easily be broken to allow application of solution to a swab applicator. Moreover, a need exists for multi-chamber container apparatuses having internal chambers that may be broken to allow mixing of separate solutions prior to or during application to a swab applicator.
While it may be known to mix solutions within containers, it is often difficult to determine when mixing is sufficient prior to use. For example, if solutions are not properly mixed prior to application, especially for medical use, the resultant solution may be ineffective for its intended purpose. A need, therefore, exists for multi-chamber container apparatuses and methods of making and using the same that allow a user to know when solutions are sufficiently mixed. More specifically, a need exists for multi-chamber container apparatuses and methods of making and using the same that provide a visual indicator of sufficient mixing.